Undeath to Death
by Dragonexx
Summary: Empowered by a mysterious figure, a group of vampire hunters manage to enter Gensokyo. But who is their leader, and what is her ultimate goal? A prequel to Darkness of Illusion and thus part of the Illusionverse.


Undeath to Death

Chapter 1

Assignment

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><p>"She couldn't have gotten far, find her!" The group nodded and scattered, two per street. Markus ran down an alleyway, his partner not far behind. Not wanting to take any chances, he drew the sword he always kept on him. It shone at first, but with a spoken word the sword went dim.<p>

Markus slowed down when the alleyway forked and looked at either direction.

"Which way?" his partner asked, excited. The boy was fresh from training and this was his first actual hunt. He was eager to get into some action.

Markus didn't respond. The boy thought he might not have heard him so he asked louder.

"Which way?"

Markus sighed in irritation. "I'm trying to focus. Silence."

The boy nodded.

Markus held the blade up and closed his eyes. Mystic runes appeared on the blade and glowed slightly.

The novice's excitement prevented him from keeping quiet. "Hey, I heard something over there. Maybe it's her." He drew his gun and loaded several silver bullets into it. In his excitement he almost dropped the ammo several times.

Markus ignored the novice and focused. The blade would tell him where they needed to go. Suddenly he had it.

"Look out!" He shouted, but it was too late. A shadow passed over the novice and he gave a shout. There was the sound of gunfire, but each shot missed. The shadowy figure raised a hand with nails like claws and tore open the boy's throat. He fell to the ground, eyes wide open.

Markus reacted immediately, swinging his sword. However the shadowy figure was even faster. She leaped into the air and landed on the roof of a building.

Markus gave one final look at the dead novice. He nodded and then turned to the fleeing figure. The runes on his sword glowed and Markus began running. He leaped into the air, landing on the roof and ran in pursuit of the fleeing assailant.

The assailant was female and appeared young, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had very long platinum hair and wore an old style black dress. In one hand she carried a blue haired doll wearing a striped shirt that was holding comically oversized cleaving knife.

She showed surprise that Markus was able to keep up with her, though it didn't last long. She held out her hand, and a swarm of bats emerged from her sleeve to fly towards Markus.

Markus didn't slow down and instead swung his sword, far faster than a human should have been able to. His swings were deadly accurate as he cut his way through the swarm of bats.

He kept running, and when he was through, he saw the girl leap to another rooftop. He leaped after her and the chase continued.

Markus reached into the pocket of his longcoat and pulled out a glass vial which contained some sort of wine dark liquid. He dodged a few more bats and then hurled the vial.

It struck the girl in the back and shattered, splashing the liquid all over her. The effect was near instantaneous.

The girl screamed in pain as white fire flared up on her back. She clenched her fists and a red aura surrounded her, putting out the fire.

However the fire had already taken its toll. The girls pace was slowed and she tripped falling off the edge of the building and landing on a parked car. The glass cracked and the alarm went off.

Markus leaped off the rooftop and attempted to bring the blade down on her. She barely managed to roll out of the way as Markus cut into the car, silencing the alarm.

She fled down another alleyway. As she did, the red aura flared up again, and she fired several bolts of red energy. Markus swung with his sword as her pursued her. The sword glowed each time it deflected a bolt. He then pointed the sword forwards and three beams of white light shot out. Streaking through the air they slammed into the girl and sent her toppling to the ground. She turned and fired a massive wave of red aura at Markus.

Markus swung his sword and a crescent shaped burst of energy launched out towards the girl. The attack cleaved through the aura and cut off her outstretched hand.

She screamed in pain and attempted to flee but she didn't have the strength.

Markus said nothing as he walked towards the girl. She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, but he showed no emotion as he plunged the blade into her heart.

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><p><em>30 minutes later…<em>

Markus had returned to the site where the novice hunter had been killed. He watched as his fellow hunters picked up the body to be prepared for burial. The average life expectancy for a hunter wasn't very high, but they all knew that. Another death, especially for so new a member was of little concern. Those who survived their first few missions were the ones actually worth making full members.

Markus felt something vibrating in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out his cell phone. He recognized the number. He answered it.

"Hello, this is Markus."

"_Ah… I've just gotten the news, Markus. The entire vampire family exterminated in only a week. Well done!" _Said a female voice.

"Thank you, Ma'am." Markus answered.

"_Once again, I find myself utterly impressed by your skill. Especially since the grandmother was an elder vampire. How many more are there to go?" _ She asked.

"None, we've taken care of all known vampires and supernatural creatures in this region of Japan. We were planning to set out first thing tomorrow for the next region."

"_Yes, in regards to that, I'm going to have to cancel those orders. Remain where you are."_

"Why? May I ask?"

"_There's been a change of plans. I have a new assignment for you and your team, something that only you will be able to accomplish."_

"What is it?" Markus asked.

"_Tell me. Have you heard of a location called the Hakurei Shrine?"_

"I know of it. It's just some abandoned shrine isn't it?"

"_Yes, it is empty and in disrepair, but more importantly, it serves as a gateway."_

"A gateway? To where?" Markus asked, intrigued.

"_The mission I'm sending your team on will take you away from this world, to a land called Gensokyo"_

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><p><em>And here it is! I think the individual chapters on this story are going to be rather short, hope you don't mind much.<em>

_As I said, this is a bit of a prequel to Darkness of Illusion, and while I would recommend reading the main story, there really isn't an actual need to._

_On another note there are no actual Touhou characters in this chapter, expect that to change when I get to chapter 2._

_Thanks for reading. Leave me a review and tell me what you think. Also tell me if you recognized the vampire that Markus killed. I made it kind of obvious though (I know some of you will probably hate me for killing her too), but don't read too far into it._

_~Dragonexx_


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